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Muslims who engage in such activities are Muslims, but they are not
“mu'mins.” They will never be, for a mu'min respects not only the
beliefs of all other Muslims, from all Islamic sects and schools of
law, but even those of non-Muslims, reserving to themselves the
basic right of not subscribing to such beliefs. You do not have to
accept my beliefs, but if you want me to respect your beliefs, you
have first to respect mine. There is no doubt that people can
unintentionally harm their religion a great deal when they carry
their narrow sectarian beliefs too far, thinking that they are serving
the Islamic cause. This is true about Shi’ahs and Sunnis alike.
Fanaticism (ta'assub )تعصبis a two-edged sword.
If some Shi’ahs speak ill of their Sunni brethren and of their beliefs,
the rest of the Sh’iahs of the world should not on their account be
condemned, and the same is true for Sunnis who speak ill of their
Shi’ah brethren and of their beliefs. There are fanatics in all
religions and sects of the world, barring none, and their fanaticism
must be condemned. There are extremists among the Sunnis and
the Shiites alike, but their views cannot be held as the criterion
whereby the entire doctrine is judged.
As Imam Khomeini said in a speech at Qom several years ago, “The
filthy hands which aggravate the differences between the Shi’ites
and Sunni Muslims belong neither to the Shi’ites nor to the Sunnis.
They are the hands of the colonialists which plan to take the Islamic
countries out of our hands. The colonial powers who want to
plunder our wealth through various schemes and conspiracies are
the ones who hatch plots for creating division under the pretext of
Shi’ism or Sunnism.”
We pray the Almighty Who did not Call us anything but Muslims,
neither Sunnis nor Shiites, to strengthen our faith and our
Brotherhood and to unite us together under the shade of His Deen
so that we may deserve to be Called Muslims, and so that His
Messenger Muhammad will not be ashamed of us on the Day of
Resurrection.
Yasin T. al-Jibouri
Falls Church, Virginia, U.S.A.
Fall of 1992